Disclaimer: They're not mine, etc, etc, so on and so forth till death due them part from J. K. the goddess of literature.
A/N: Okay, another chapter, let's just hop to it, and thanks to everyone who reviewed !
Chapter 29
Ding Dong, Ministry House Call
The next few weeks passed quickly with life going on as normal until it was Valentine's Day. Hermione was now about the equivalent of six and a half months along, and it wouldn't be much longer till her and Draco would be parents. Ron had begrudgingly reconciled with Hermione and was even being courteous towards Draco. He had since accepted Deimos, and even considered him a friend.
The Valentine's Day dance was to be held that evening from seven to ten, so that all students would be able to attend. After dinner, Ginny and Hermione went to their rooms to get dressed for the dance. Hermione was wearing a light purple robe that flowed out over her very round stomach. It was a strapless dress, and the top of the bodice was lined with dark purple lace trim, and the bottom of the dress was also lined with the dark purple lace. Hermione wore purple gloves that stopped above her elbows, and had a long sheer dark purple scarf that flowed over her shoulders and down her back. Her dress was very simple, yet elegant, and she wore her hair once again in a chignon.
Ginny wore a red dress that matched her hair. It had thin straps that tied around her neck, halter style, and her dress dipped low in the back, and had a slight trim. The only other colour on the dress was a braided cord of black silk that tied around her waist, with the ends hanging loosely. Ginny too wore long gloves to cover up the mark. She French braided her hair, tying in some black ribbon for accent.
The boys were once again in their robes with the family crests on them, and were properly in awe of the girls.
"You look stunning Virginia, as always," Deimos said as he pinned on her miniature red rose corsage.
"My angel," Was all Draco said as he pinned on a white and purple rose corsage.
"Thank you," both the girls said giving them each a kiss and pinning on their boutonnières.
"Shall we go?" Draco asked holding out his arm to escort Hermione while Deimos did the same thing.
They walked down to the great hall to see it decorated in red, white, and pink balloons and streamers. They walked in and spotting Harry and Ron, dashed over to them.
"Hermione, you look beautiful," Ron said giving her a hug. He had come with A.J., who was wearing a black Chinese style dress that had green dragons and yellow phoenixes on it. "And Ginny, you look gorgeous, you make red look good."
"Thank you Ron," she said giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. "Harry, you look very handsome yourself."
Harry had come with Lavender Brown, since her date got sick last minute, and he hadn't had a date to begin with, so they were here as friends.
"Thanks," He replied blushing.
The music began, and all the girls eagerly dragged their dates out on the floor to begin dancing. Fred had come with his wife Angelina, and George had come with his fiancée Alicia. Even though they had graduated last year, Professor Dumbledore had invited them since they had been in charge of doing the music, and they had supplied money for the decorations.
The dance had been going on for about an hour, and it was nearing nine o'clock when the music was cut short. Voices began protesting until they saw Professor Dumbledore motioning for silence from where he stood on the dais. Behind him were several men who no one seemed to know.
"I'm sorry for the interruption of this wonderful dance." Professor Dumbledore started. "I'm sure most of you have noticed these men behind me. They are from the Ministry of Magic, and have some things to tell you."
"Thank you Professor Dumbledore." One of the man said stepping forward. "My name is Leroy McAllister, and I work in the Department of Law, a ministry police officer, so to speak. Anyways, as you all know, there have been reports of dark activity in recent weeks."
Ginny, Hermione, Draco and Deimos exchanged looks with each other, and saw Professor Snape and Pansy Parkinson looking on edge also. Crabbe and Goyle just stood near her looking like the idiots they were. They turned their attention back to the man speaking as he continued.
"We are extremely happy to announce that earlier this afternoon, a team of aurors received reports from a spy that death eaters were having a meeting. Several dozen aurors immediately dispatched, and were able to kill Voldemort. Even so, as a standard precautionary procedure, we are going to be checking everyone for the dark mark to make sure we get everyone." Gasps and talking began amongst the students. Ginny and Hermione immediately leaned into Deimos and Draco's embraces, thankful that Voldemort was gone, yet afraid of being searched. The man waited for everyone to get quiet before he continued. "If we should find anyone with the dark mark, we will be forced to question them, and take them to Azkaban. (A/N: Okay, I was thinking of ending it there, for a nice cliffy, but I'm not that mean. And I know that's a really lame way to just kill off Voldemort, but I don't need him anymore, so there you go, no more Voldie.)
"If all the students would be so kind as to line up in front of us, starting with the first years," and they all lined up nervously on the floor area in front of the dais. "Thanks. First however, we have to ask the Professors to all hold out their left arms, palms up." And the officials began to check their arms. When they got to Professor Snape, they pulled him forward to question him with veriteserum. It appeared the questioning would be done in front of everyone.
"Your full name and position," Leroy McAllister questioned. He would be doing all the questioning.
"Severus Damien Snape, Potions Master, Potions Professor of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, former death eater, and spy for Albus Dumbledore," came his long introduction.
"Oh yes, I know you, you were our contact who fed us information, you're free to go." He said as the other officials started towards the first years.
The other students were staring in shock at their Potions Professor. He had helped to defeat Voldemort, and he was a former death eater. The other officials quickly finished inspecting the first years, who were all clean. They were sent back to their dorms. Then the same happened with the second, third, and fourth years. When they called the fifth years up, there were three Slytherins who were questioned with the veriteserum. They gave their names and began spouting off the greatness of the Dark Lord. The three young men were taken into custody to be taken to Azkaban.
Soon it was time for the sixth years to com forward. Hermione, Draco, Ginny, Deimos, Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle, were all in the centre of the line. The officials started on the ends and worked their way in. This was pure torture to the five teens. Crabbe and Goyle were still clueless and not quite understanding of what was going on. However, the other five had talked to each other on occasion, forming a friendship with each other. They didn't want to go to Azkaban. No one did. All wizards and witches knew it was a place where many people went insane, lost all happiness, or died or committed suicide.
The officials reached the group of five, and asked them to remove their gloves and pull back their sleeves. Crabbe and Goyle had already been questioned and taken away to go to Azkaban, but Pansy had been allowed to stay, because she had been placed under the imperious when receiving it. The officials came to Draco, Hermione, Deimos and Ginny and asked them to bare their left forearm. Ginny and Hermione removed their gloves while Draco and Deimos rolled up their sleeves, and prepared themselves for the gasps and yells of fright and shock that had come with each unveiling.
A/N: Okay, another chapter done, now I really won't have any time to write till the end of the month, so don't expect a chapter up till end of August sometime. Oh, and I'll need baby names for Ginny and Deimos' baby, so send 'em in. The one I like best will be used for the baby.
